Los Angeles – Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard has lost his copyright infringement case against Nike relating to his famous Klaw logo that resembles his hand.

Leonard shared his logo idea with Nike in 2011 with a rough sketch. Nike and Leonard then worked together to create the logo. The player offered the design idea that Nike improved upon, and this logo was used and endorsed by both parties for years. When their contract ended in 2018, however, Leonard claimed he had the right to continue using the design and that Nike committed fraud through copyright registration of the logo Read the rest

San Diego – Kawhi Leonard, the small forward for the recently crowned champions Toronto Raptors, has filed a copyright lawsuit against Nike. In the lawsuit, Leonard claims that Nike has taken a design that Kawhi created and registered it with the U.S. Copyright office and used it all without his authorization. Leonard also claims that the sports apparel company threatened to sue him for using it on his merchandise.

Leonard began a partnership with Nike in 2011 as part of a multi-year endorsement deal. The deal allowed Nike to use Leonard’s Logo during the tenure of the partnership and endorsement. While Leonard allowed Nike to use the lo Read the rest

Los Angeles – Supermodel Gigi Hadid has been sued for copyright infringement for posting a photo of herself on Instagram. The lawsuit involves a photo that was taken by the paparazzi. The complaint states that Hadid used the photo without permission of the owner Xclusive-Lee, Inc.

Thus far Hadid is fighting the case. Her copyright attorney states that the claim is meritless and should be thrown out due to fair use. Thus they are planning a motion to dismiss. Read the rest

Orange County – A photograph taken of Donald Trump at a wedding in Bedminster, New Jersey on June 11, 2017 went viral. The photograph documented the President crashing a wedding at one of his resorts and has become the source of contention for some of the guests of the wedding.

Jonathan Otto, the vice president of Deustche Bank, was a guest at the wedding and took the photo of President Trump on his iPhone. Another guest at the wedding, Sean Burke, received the photo from Otto, which he shared with other attendees. The photo eventually made its way to Instagram, where the media first discovered it. Thereafter the photo was showcased on Read the rest

Orange County – Back in 2012, a Snowshoe Siamese cat named Tardar Sauce became an Internet sensation through photos of the cat’s signature grumpy expression. Tardar Sauce is now infamously known as Grumpy Cat. The cat’s owner, Tabatha Bundesen, created Grumpy Cat Limited to create business opportunities for the cat. The following year in 2013, Grenade Beverage paid $150,000 and signed an agreement to use the cat’s image on its ‘Grumpuccino’ iced coffee.

Shortly after, Grenade started using the cat’s image on other products including t-shirts and other beverages. Grumpy Cat Limited claimed that these uses were not authorized, and so in 2015 Grumpy Cat Limited su Read the rest

Orange County – The new year is bringing in with it the first significant reform of music licensing rules in decades. Streaming services like Spotify are continuing to gain in popularity as consumer purchase less Compact Discs. Spotify is now facing three lawsuits alleging that it has failed to pay artists for the music it streams.

Most recently, the Swedish streaming company has to deal with a new larger copyright lawsuit from Wixen Music Publishing. Wixen Music Publishing filed a lawsuit in California federal court that alleges Spotify is using Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” the Doors’ “Light My Fire,” and several thousands of other songs without a Read the rest

Los Angeles – Last week Miami rapper Rick Ross appealed a 2016 ruling that dismissed his copyright lawsuit about alleged similarities between his song “Hustlin” and Los Angeles duo LMFAO’s song “Party Rock Anthem.” LMFAO is made up of Redfoo (Stefan Gordy) the youngest son of Motown founder Berry Gordy, and Sky Blu (Skyler Gordy) who is Stefan’s nephew.

In April 2016, the Florida court ruled that Rick Ross’ copyright registrations for the song had several errors making them invalid. Without valid registration with the U.S. Copyright Office, a copyright lawsuit cannot be filed in federal court. Back in 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen M. Williams Read the rest

Los Angeles – A judge recently held that a New Zealand political party infringed on Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” copyright when it used a song that sounded very similar to Eminem’s hit. The song was used in a 2014 election advertisement. The judge awarded Eminem’s publishing company $415,000 after deciding that the song the National Party purchased from a stock music library was substantially similar to Eminem’s song.

The infringing song’s title is labeled as “Eminem-esque” which likely did not help the defendant. “Lose Yourself” received the 2003 Academy Award for Best Original Song and is one of Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of Al Read the rest

Orange County – Banana suit costumes are a popular favorite for Halloween, and it turns out there’s big money in them. Enough so that Kmart and Rasta Imposta are entrenched in a copyright lawsuit over a banana suit which is a registered U.S. copyright.

For nearly a decade since 2008, Kmart has been purchasing costumes from costume manufacturer Silvertop Associates which does business as Rasta Imposta. However, this year Kmart and Rasta Imposta failed to reach an agreement on pa Read the rest

Los Angeles – Late night television host Conan O’Brien, his writing staff, and Time Warner apparently will have to defend themselves at trial in federal civil court in the coming months. The popular television show “Conan” has been accused of stealing three jokes from a blog.

The jokes were allegedly stolen from the blog of freelance comedy writer, Robert “Alex” Kaseberg in 2014 and 2015. Last Friday, U.S. District Court Read the rest

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